Todoist question

K

kelstarrising

Kelly | GTD expert
Hi GTDers,

I'm working on writing a new GTD & Todoist Setup Guide for David Allen Company. Curious to hear from those of you who are GTD savvy and using Todoist about how you handle next actions that don't have a project associated. I know some workarounds to do, like with other apps that unfortunately force this (like OmniFocus), but I'm curious how you all have found this to work well for your personal setup in Todoist. It seems like the only choice to move it out of the Inbox is to assign a project.

For example:
--Create a fake project name that represents no project, like "---"
--Don't use projects as they suggest, but instead just use Personal or Work as the key sorting and use tags for the related project and/or next action?

Would love your feedback about what you have found to work for you, from a GTD perspective.

Thanks.
Kelly
 
Last edited:
kelstarrising said:
Hi GTDers,

I'm working on writing a new GTD & Todoist Setup Guide for David Allen Company. Curious to hear from those of you who are GTD savvy and using Todoist about how you handle next actions that don't have a project associated. I know some workarounds to do, like with other apps that unfortunately force this (like OmniFocus), but I'm curious how you all have found this to work well for your personal setup in Todoist. It seems like the only choice to move it out of the Inbox is to assign a project.

For example:
--Create a fake project name that represents no project, like "---"
--Don't use projects as they suggest, but instead just use Personal or Work as the key sorting and use tags for the related project and/or next action?

Would love your feedback about what you have found to work for you, from a GTD perspective.

Thanks.
Kelly
Click to expand...

Kelly,
I've used Todoist off and on for some time. I don't use Todoist projects as GTD projects. In a way, my setup in Todoist is much like Wunderlist: Each Todoist project is a list. I have lists for next actions, waiting for, projects, someday/maybe, areas of focus, and so forth. In this model, it's easy to handle non-project related actions. I find the tagging feature adds a layer of complexity that I don't need.
 

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RS356 said:
Kelly,
I've used Todoist off and on for some time. I don't use Todoist projects as GTD projects. In a way, my setup in Todoist is much like Wunderlist: Each Todoist project is a list. I have lists for next actions, waiting for, projects, someday/maybe, areas of focus, and so forth. In this model, it's easy to handle non-project related actions. I find the tagging feature adds a layer of complexity that I don't need.
Click to expand...

Thank you! This would work for non-premium Todoist users as well, whereas tagging would require premium.
 
kelstarrising said:
Thank you! This would work for non-premium Todoist users as well, whereas tagging would require premium.
Click to expand...

You're welcome! I'm currently on a premium account, but this is quite functional with the non-premium features.

I've tried using Todoist projects as GTD projects in the past, but I find it soon becomes unwieldy. For those using this method, how do you see the total picture of your commitments?
 
kelstarrising said:
Hi GTDers,

I'm working on writing a new GTD & Todoist Setup Guide for David Allen Company. Curious to hear from those of you who are GTD savvy and using Todoist about how you handle next actions that don't have a project associated. I know some workarounds to do, like with other apps that unfortunately force this (like OmniFocus), but I'm curious how you all have found this to work well for your personal setup in Todoist. It seems like the only choice to move it out of the Inbox is to assign a project.

For example:
--Create a fake project name that represents no project, like "---"
--Don't use projects as they suggest, but instead just use Personal or Work as the key sorting and use tags for the related project and/or next action?

Would love your feedback about what you have found to work for you, from a GTD perspective.

Thanks.
Kelly
Click to expand...

Hi Kelly,
I started using Todoist non-premium version this way: I created project "Next Actions" and put there all current actions. All the contexts were "subprojects" to "Next Actions". That allowed me reviewing all actions in one list structured by context. In premium version tags do this job, which is quite convenient.
Project list was also a "project" with subprojects (not "tasks") - that allowed me putting some support materials from web or gmail or project ideas to the paricular project and then transfer it to next actions by assigning a "context-subproject".
I also marked projects, next actions and someday/maybe in different colors.
 
@NMartynova - Your use of project support materials reminded me of how I did this in the non-premium version. The non-premium version does not allow notes or file attachments; however, one can still add notes when working on a project. Start a task item with a * and it will appear without a checkbox (see attached). This is also useful for milestones or to avoid something being accidentally completed and hidden.Capture.JPG
 
RS356 said:
@NMartynova - Your use of project support materials reminded me of how I did this in the non-premium version. The non-premium version does not allow notes or file attachments; however, one can still add notes when working on a project. Start a task item with a * and it will appear without a checkbox (see attached). This is also useful for milestones or to avoid something being accidentally completed and hidden.View attachment 73
Click to expand...
Thank you! This is a great trick!
 
RS356 said:
Kelly,
I've used Todoist off and on for some time. I don't use Todoist projects as GTD projects. In a way, my setup in Todoist is much like Wunderlist: Each Todoist project is a list. I have lists for next actions, waiting for, projects, someday/maybe, areas of focus, and so forth. In this model, it's easy to handle non-project related actions. I find the tagging feature adds a layer of complexity that I don't need.
Click to expand...

Same setup for me
 
kelstarrising said:
Hi GTDers,

I'm working on writing a new GTD & Todoist Setup Guide for David Allen Company. Curious to hear from those of you who are GTD savvy and using Todoist about how you handle next actions that don't have a project associated. I know some workarounds to do, like with other apps that unfortunately force this (like OmniFocus), but I'm curious how you all have found this to work well for your personal setup in Todoist. It seems like the only choice to move it out of the Inbox is to assign a project.

For example:
--Create a fake project name that represents no project, like "---"
--Don't use projects as they suggest, but instead just use Personal or Work as the key sorting and use tags for the related project and/or next action?

Would love your feedback about what you have found to work for you, from a GTD perspective.

Thanks.
Kelly
Click to expand...
Hi Kelly,

Looking forward to the guide. One thing I've done with Todoist, that I'm thinking of redoing is using Todoist "Projects" as my context lists; @Waiting, @Computer, @Someday, @Projects, etc. I use "Labels" for additional attributes such as a location, (Home, Condo) time of year (Spring, Fall) or special interest (Fitness, Hike, Restaurant). It has benefits that I can create a filter to show Hikes in New Hampshire or Restaurants at Home.

My issue is that a @Project "Build Patio Fence" is in one Todoist Project, but the actions under the project, like "Get Quote from Mike" in under a different Todoist Project. I'm thinking of changing my set up to use Todoist Projects as my projects, so "Build Fence" has all of it's actions as subprojects, organized in 1 list. I can them use Labels as contexts. My only hesitation is whether or not continuing to use Labels for additional attributes will clutter up the system. I think I'll have to create many more custom filters, which may also add to clutter.
 
Hi,

In my case the first level of "Projects" is actually used as Areas of Focus. On the second level, each AoF is populated with "real projects" as well as single actions. This way, one only has to decide to which AoF is a given single action is associated. The actions pertaining to "projects" obviously appear on the third level - within the corresponding project.

Regards, M.
 
miha said:
Hi,

In my case the first level of "Projects" is actually used as Areas of Focus. On the second level, each AoF is populated with "real projects" as well as single actions. This way, one only has to decide to which AoF is a given single action is associated. The actions pertaining to "projects" obviously appear on the third level - within the corresponding project.

Regards, M.
Click to expand...

Thanks. And how are you managing actions that have nothing to do with a project? Single actions like "buy shampoo"? And how about Someday/Maybes?
 
Hi, below is an example showing my approach using a general scheme (I hope the upload was successful).

As mentioned, single actions do not pertain to any project (in the sense of GTD) but they do pertain to one of the Areas of Focus (Home, Work etc., in my specific case I have 5 different Areas). Of course, a possible downside is that there is more than one list of single actions. So, during the review when I want to see all my single actions (and nothing else) I use an appropriate filter which does the job adequately.
I have Someday/Maybes as well as Recurring tasks in separate "First-Level-Todoist-Projects", i.e. on the same level as AoF (see the scheme). I wonder whether this is entirely consistent but I find it practical during the reviews.

Regards, M
 

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